Steph from Big World Small Pockets tells us how she saved for a trip of a lifetime…
While I love a budget trip as much as the next person, sometimes in life there are just things you have just to splurge on, and therefore save for too!
I’m not talking here about saving to upgrade a holiday, be that via a business class flight or a 5* all-inclusive showdown, I’m talking about saving up for an experience that you simply can’t get on the cheap – those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, those true bucket list gems you’ll remember forever.
For some people these are iconic train rides across breathtaking scenery such as Canada, for others they are far flung trips to distant lands like Australia, while for a select few they might even be athletic endeavours such as scaling to Everest base camp!
But for me, the choice was simple… a stunning safari in Africa.
I’d actually visited southern Africa during my gap year, some 10+ years prior, but now, in my mid-30’s, and fortunately in that blessed slice of life still free from kids and aging parents, I knew it was now or never to get back and explore more!
But I didn’t just want to revisit sub-Saharan Africa for a quick 2 week safari, say in Kenya or Kruger, I wanted to go the whole hog!
And the whole hog in this case (and despite me being a vegetarian!) was a 3 month trip taking in almost every single country in southern and east Africa along with safaris on a near daily basis in almost every famous reserve, park, delta or sanctuary I could!
It was a big trip and a big dream!
And needless to say, it required a big save as a result!
Even the cheapest overland companies that arrange these sorts of long distance, multi-week, mega wildlife adventures in Africa start from around £7,000 and that’s without the visas, permits, food, flights, insurance, vaccinations and extras you need.
So all in all, it was adding up to be at least a £10,000 trip!
But despite being a budget traveller aficionado, I know it was going to be worth it!
After all, when else would I have this time, freedom, opportunity and hedonistic holiday saving power in my life again?
I wasn’t prepared to take the risk that the answer might be never!
A trip I knew would be worth saving for, a trip that I would remember forever, if my gap year was anything to go by, then adventures across the continent of Africa are hard to shake from both your memory and your heart.
Saving for this sort of incredible trip is not only hugely rewarding, but also deeply satisfying – you’ve set yourself a goal, work towards achieving a dream and earn the excitement of both your impending holiday experience and of seeing your holiday bank balance tick upwards.
And then, of course, you actually get to go and have that holiday!
Flying into Cape Town on a sunny September day, the first thing was to meet the group who would form my travel tour buddies on this epic African adventure.
And, after a few days exploring the winelands, wildlife and table mountain of this Mother City, thankfully, we discovered that we got on like a house on fire… I guess it takes a certain type of person to embark on a trip like this!
From Cape Town, we then set off northwards to Fish River Canyon, crossing into Namibia to take in the eerie Skeleton Coast and salt pan wildlife wonder-spot of Etosha National Park, before swinging into neighbouring Botswana.
Here, of course, it was all about taking in the magnificence of Chobe National Park (thought to have the largest elephant population on earth) and the UNESCO -listed Okavango Delta, where cruising past hippos in traditional mokoro canoes to camp in isolated islands where rhinos roar around you, was quite the experience!
After this, it was on to one of the world’s largest waterfalls – Victoria Falls – for all the adrenaline activities you can imagine, including white water rafting and bathing in Devil’s Pool situated right above the thundering curtain of plummeting water.
From here we pressed on to Zambia, for some of southern Africa’s most off-the-beaten-track safari experiences (with some amazing spots of the elusive leopard to show for it!), before diving (literally!) into Malawi and hiking in the hills around this country’s enormous freshwater lake.
Tanzania was our next port of call, with the sensational Serengeti calling us for Big 5 spots a go-go, plus a generous dazzle of zebras, giraffe, hyena, cheetah, jackal and impala for good measure.
That said, it was really this country’s Ngorongoro Crater that stole my heart.
The largest intact volcanic caldera on earth, some 2-3 millions years old and home to some 30,000 large mammals – if you ever come to east Africa, you can’t miss it!
After this, it was time to head to the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar, for Swahili Coast culture, UNESCO-listed capital Stone Town and snorkelling in the tropical waters off its white sand beaches, before Lake Victoria and hiking with chimpanzees in Rwanda called us away!
Over 2 months into the trip, we then reached Uganda, where adrenaline activities along the River Nile in Jinja and the fabled gorilla trek took place and honestly, by this point, it just felt like every day was a bucket list tick!
And finally, after almost 3 months on the trip of a lifetime we reached Kenya, where cycling in Hell’s Gate National Park, and jeep safari-ing in icon Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara National Parks were the final icing on the cake.
Let me tell you, it was rhino-spotting like no other!
Undoubtedly THE trip of a lifetime, I’m so glad that saving hard for a travel experience like this paid off, and I will forever be glad that I got to return to travel in Africa and witness her many wildlife and watery wonders.
Needless to say it only reignited my passion for adventuring in this region more and I’ve now been back several times since!
After all, once African travel enters your world, it’s almost impossible to shake the passion off!
